| 释义 |
quidnunc|ˈkwɪdnʌŋk|
[f. L. quid what + nunc now.]
One who is constantly asking: ‘What now?’ ‘What's the news?’; hence, an inquisitive person; a gossip; a newsmonger.
1709Steele Tatler No. 10 ⁋2 The Insignificancy of my Manners..makes the Laughers called me a Quid Nunc. 1782Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 126 Acknowledge, now..that I should make no small figure among the quidnuncs of Olney. 1832W. Irving Alhambra II. 95 He was a sort of scandalous chronicle for the quid-nuncs of Granada. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. x. 352 Some wretched intrigue which had puzzled two generations of quidnuncs.
attrib.188019th Cent. VII. 191 Not for the mere gratification of quidnunc curiosity.
Hence quid-nunc-ism, quidnunckery, curiosity, love of news or gossip. nonce-wds.
1804in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. VIII. 93 His attachment to quidnunckery is as constant as ever. 1847J. Cairns Let. in Life xi. (1895) 281 The ne plus ultra of disappointed religious quid-nunc-ism. |